Today Clean Clothes Campaign commemorates the five year anniversary of the deadly fire that ripped through the Ali Enterprises factory in Pakistan, killing over 250 garment workers. As we remember this tragedy, our thoughts are with the families that lost loved ones and of those that lived through these horrific events. Taking stock five years on, Clean Clothes Campaign fears that, in absence of credible and transparent safety inspections, garment factories in Pakistan remain unsafe workplaces. This means that thousands of workers continue to face daily risks of being injured or killed at work.

Today five years ago, a group of Indonesian workers started a strike after their employer had denied them the provincial sectoral wage as well as freedom of association. By the end of July, 1,300 workers were dismissed for participating in the strike. Five years on, 345 workers are still fighting for their rightful severance pay. On this day, Clean Clothes Campaign published an open letter to adidas and Mizuno, the two brands that sourced from the factory in the years preceding these events.

The sudden closure of a garment factory linked to UK and Canadian brands has left 208 workers in Cambodia without jobs, salaries or compensation. A year later these workers, largely women, are still fighting for justice and are in a desperate situation.
As they stitched clothes for UK brands Marks and Spencer and Bonmarché, as well as Canadian brand Nygård, the workers are demanding that these companies take responsibility and give them the legally due payments that their supplier failed to provide.